-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The Florida police sergeant fired for possessing shooting targets resembling Trayvon Martin defended himself Sunday and said the targets were meant to be used as training aids for `` no-shoot '' situations .

Sgt. Ron King was fired from his job as a firearms instructor for the Port Canaveral Police Department on Friday after an internal review determined he possessed the paper targets and offered them to fellow officers for use during a firearms training session earlier this month .

`` When informed of the basic facts , -LRB- I -RRB- found the entire situation unacceptable , '' John Walsh , the interim chief executive of the Canaveral Port Authority , told reporters Saturday . `` It is not the type of behavior that I want a police officer to have on both a personal and professional level . I find his conduct intolerable and I demanded that the chief immediately start procedures to terminate this employee . ''

The paper targets show a faceless black hooded sweatshirt with a bull 's - eye on the chest . In one hand is a can of iced tea and in the pocket is a pack of Skittles candy , the same items Martin was carrying when he was shot and killed last year in a case that has drawn national attention .

King , in a video statement posted online , said he bought the targets because the two items -- the Skittles and iced tea -- were not threatening , which meant the target could be used to help train officers when not to shoot a suspect .

King did not say where he bought the targets , but similar ones caused a controversy when they were first sold online a year ago .

`` While others have used it as a novelty , I view it as a tool for scenario-based firearms training , '' King said . Using `` real-life situations '' as training scenarios is not uncommon for firearms instructors , he said , and they help teach police how to respond to incidents in the future .

`` The only stupid act I performed was to believe that some of my coworkers would be mature enough and care enough to use a bad situation as a learning tool , '' King said , referring to the Martin case .

Port Canaveral is just an hour away from Sanford , where the 17-year-old Martin was killed in February 2012 as he walked home at night from a convenience store .

George Zimmerman , a neighborhood watch captain , is awaiting trial on a second-degree murder charge in Martin 's death . He says he shot Martin in self-defense .

King , who was hired in January 2011 , disputed some of the details Walsh gave to reporters , including that he offered the targets to other officers to shoot . He said he showed them to only one , a fellow sergeant , to find out whether he thought they could be useful training aids .

King said he offered one of the targets to the sergeant after the sergeant said his son would `` get a kick '' out of them . Instead of taking it , he said , the sergeant took a picture and then used the image to file a complaint about King .

`` To the Martin family , I would like to apologize again for those law enforcement officials that chose to use your son 's death as an element for their personal and political gains , '' King said . `` I assure you that the use of these targets that are in question is to prevent a tragedy from taking place . ''

On Saturday , Martin family attorney Ben Crump condemned the use of the targets as `` absolutely reprehensible . ''

`` Such a deliberate and depraved indifference to this grieving family is unacceptable , '' Crump said in a statement .

@highlight

Sgt. Ron King was fired Friday from the Port Canaveral Police Department

@highlight

He says the target was a training aid for `` no-shoot '' situations

@highlight

The target shows a faceless black hoodie with Skittles and iced tea

@highlight

An official calls his conduct `` intolerable ''